NIH announces retirement plan for government-owned chimpanzees

The National Institutes of Health announced an official plan for the retirement of all government-owned or government-supported chimpanzees from research laboratories to sanctuary.

In response, Kathleen Conlee, vice president of animal research issues for The Humane Society of the United States, said:

“The movement of the approximately 360 chimpanzees owned and supported by the federal government to Chimp Haven, the national chimpanzee sanctuary, can and should begin as soon as possible. We welcome this important step by NIH, but there is still more work to do to get all of these chimpanzees to the sanctuary they deserve, including the expansion of Chimp Haven.”

In November 2015, the NIH announced it would retire all government-owned chimpanzees to sanctuary, instead of retaining a colony of 50 chimpanzees for possible use in research. This followed several years of expert deliberation, which determined chimpanzees are no longer needed for biomedical research.